President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva wants his entire government team focused on negotiations with the National Congress to approve economic agendas in the second half of the year. This information was provided by the Minister of Institutional Relations, Alexandre Padilha, on Monday (12), after Lula’s traditional political coordination meeting with government leaders in the Chamber of Deputies, the Senate and the National Congress, as well as ministers of state.
“President Lula reinforced that not only the political coordination and the leaders, but also all the ministers who have dialogue with the National Congress, should resume, in this effort, the concentration on these economic agendas that contribute to the resumption of our economic growth,” said Padilha.
Deputies are making a statement this week concentrated effort to analyze several voting priorities for this semester. Among them is the second draft regulation of the tax reformwhich the government hopes will be completed this year. “There was a very rich discussion during the first half of the year, with direct involvement, including from the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira, from all the leaders and the construction of what could be voted on now when the concentrated effort returns,” he said.
According to the minister, Brazil is experiencing a positive scenario of increased public and private investment, economic growth, inflation control, falling unemployment and improved social mobility of the population. “The approval of the tax reform will help sustain this new cycle in the country,” he said, reinforcing that the objective of the reform is to reduce taxes for the majority of the population and simplify collection for the productive sector.
According to Padilha, in the Chamber the government is also seeking to conclude the vote on the provisional measure (MP) that creates the Acredita Programa package of actions for access to credit and debt renegotiation for individual microentrepreneurs (MEI) and micro and small businesses. In the Senate, the government’s priorities are projects that deal with Fuel of the Future Program – to stimulate the production of biofuels and support the energy transition and the debate on the carbon credit market.
Regarding actions related to the country’s aviation safety, Padilha stated that the government is open to discussing any proposal that may be presented by Congress. According to him, the Minister of Ports and Airports, Silvio Costa Filho, is closely following the investigations into the causes of the accident last Friday (9), in Vinhedo (SP), when an aircraft crashed, killing 62 people. “To the extent that these assessments may propose some improvements, either legal or regulatory, the government, at the end of the investigations, may also fully support these decisions,” he said.
According to Padilha, Lula will continue his travels around Brazil to monitor the execution of government projects and policies. This week, the president is expected to be in Paraná on Thursday (15) to announce the resumption of Petrobras investments in a refinery in the state; the unit was going to be privatized, but the oil company changed its direction. The president is also considering a visit to Rio Grande do Sul on Friday (16) to monitor reconstruction measures in the state affected by the worst flood in its history.